Never That Far Apart
by TheTimeLord1
Summary: Of course, he's ought to have remembered other companions. But some... He never can forget. One shot.


**First of all, credit to Panda Puffin. She said I should turn this into a Fanfic after i told her about it. So, I was looking stuff up online and found a fanfic where Tegan and Barbara and Ian's son got married. So I thought of it and said, "Eh, what the hey." But the Doctor ought to come in somewhere, right? So here it is! Review if you like! **

* * *

**Never That Far Apart **

"Alright, Spaceman," Donna asked as the two if them stepped out of the TARDIS. "Where are we?"

He sniffed the air. "Well, noting from the smell of hairspray and cigarettes, I'd say... Mid or later eighties."

Donna gasped and ran over to a newsstand. "I remember this! Eighty-six!"

"You remember what?" He walked over. Sometimes, Donna confused the hell out of him.

"Johnny Chester getting married, you dumbo! God, I had such a crush on him... I thought cutting my hair short to look like his girlfriend's would work. Biggest mistake ever."

He tried to imagine Donna with short hair. Hehe, sort of similar to... Wait. Didn't someone he knew love a musician named Johnny Chester? "What was her name?"

Donna shrugged. "Terra, Tegan, something like that."

... No... The Doctor grabbed her by her shoulders. "Tegan Jovanka?"

"Huh. You're not so oblivious."

"I traveled with her, Donna!" He let go of her and grabbed his hair. "And now she's getting married? I haven't been keeping track at all!"

She picked up the newspaper, opened it, and started reading an article. "'Many fangirls are left in tears'... Yeah, that's me. 'Johnny Chesterton, or Chester, to his fans-'"

"_Chesterton_?" The Doctor turned to her in even more shock. What the hell was going on? Now she's getting married to a Chesterton?

"Yeah, have a problem with the name?"

"I... Does it say his parents' names?"

Donna scanned the article. "Let's see. Wait... Those can't be his parents! They look his age!"

"They", he guessed, meant who he thought. "Their names, though?"

"Barbara and Ian Chesterton."

Oh, they finally realized they loved each other! He knew that ought to have happened.

No. That was beside the point. His former companion as going to be two other companions' daughter-in-law. "Oh, no..." He muttered.

"What? You know them, too?"

Slowly, he nodded. "I'm scared if they've told her about me... Things will get awkward. Very, very awkward..."

* * *

_(A few months earlier) _

Now, Tegan's mother hadn't met this Johnny that she was absolutely in love with. So she decided to pay a visit to them in England just before they announced their engagement. And one of the first things she wanted to do was meet his parents.

Of course, this was bound to end horribly.

"And if this one acts like a nutter, that's perfectly normal," her mother said during dinner.

"Mum..." Tegan winced.

"Don't worry," Ian laughed. "John is just the same."

His son shot him a look. Tegan's mother continued, "I'm sure he's just fine. He didn't use a man in a police box took him through space and time as an excuse for disappearing, did he?"

Barbara and Ian exchanged looks. Was their son's girlfriend a friend of the Doctor's? Tegan's mother, of course, thought that they were disgusted with her. But then Barbara finally asked, "What was... What was his name?"

"The Doctor," Tegan immediately seemed to know who she was talking about, so she was comfortable.

"And he was a Time Lord?"

"Yes!" They must've known who he was! No one could just make that up!

Ian leaned forward a bit. "We... Travelled with him, also."

Just imagine Tegan's mother's face.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Donna!" The Doctor replied excitedly as they walked up the stairs of the gorgeous house in the English countryside. Well, it was a fake excited. He was scared to death about meeting Tegan again.

As he rang the bell, Donna had a sudden realization: "Wait... We're going to meet Johnny Chester, aren't we?"

"Possib-"

The door opening interrupted him. There stood the same person he knew since the end of his fourth regeneration. "Yes?" She asked in her heavy Australian accent.

"Ah, Tegan!" He extended his arms as she gave a look that asked how he knew her. "You look just the same as you did... I think the time before we last saw. You and my fifth, I mean. Definitely changed from when you met my sixth..."

No... That couldn't be him. The man she had missed for what seemed like so many years when it was really less than one. He couldn't be back. "I'm sorry... I don't think we've met," she started to shut the door.

The Doctor held it open, though. "Aw, come on! It's me! The Doctor! The one who could play a perfect match of cricket! The one with the glasses!" He took his brainy specs out and put them on. "And, well, no decorative vegetable or multi-colored coat, they started to creep me out..."

There was no use in denying who he was. She just had to let him in or regret it for the rest of the foreseeable future. "... Doctor...?"

He gave her the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face. "Come here!" He grabbed her and put an arm around her.

Tegan just had to laugh. The Doctor was back! He let go of her and she noticed the woman with him. "Hello," she greeted her. "Tegan."

"Donna," the ginger nodded.

"Are you two...?" Tegan asked.

How many times would they be asked that? "No!" The Doctor quickly responded.

"Never!" Donna added.

"Oh, okay, then. Why don't you two come inside?"

* * *

The Doctor explained that Donna was from 2009 and lied that she was so excited for Tegan. "Aw, thanks," Tegan laughed before noting someone else. "John!"

Donna nearly turned red as the brilliant Johnny Chester walked into the sitting room. Oh, God, that Tegan was lucky... "Fangirl moment?" The Doctor whispered to her.

She made a soft noise that sounded like "yeah".

"Right, John, this is Donna Noble and Doctor John Smith."

"D'you think we'll get confused?" He joked.

"Maybe..." The Doctor muttered. Why didn't he feel comfortable around him?

"John," a familiar voice called from the other room, starting to come in. "We need-"

"Chatterton!" The Doctor stood up.

Now, of course, this confused the hell out of poor Ian. "... Sorry?"

But Tegan knew what was going on. "Why don't you go talk out there?"

This excited the Doctor. He quickly left, his former companion following him.

Ian studied him. "So how do you know me?"

"Chesterfield! It's me, the cranky old man! Only I changed, so now I'm young and good looking!"

... What? "... Doctor?"

"Yes!"

Okay, what was he supposed to say? "Well, you're definitely... Different."

"Yeah, this is one of my better looking regenerations. Personally, I like the one that Tegan travelled with best. I'd date that me if I could..."

And that's how the Doctor took loving oneself to a whole new level.

* * *

Donna gasped, this time meaning it. Tegan was just saying how her father died only a few months earlier, a feeling which Donna could relate to. "That's horrible! I mean, mine lasted just past what was supposed to be my wedding, but you..."

"'Supposed to be'?"

"Long story short: I ended up in the box. But anyway, Doctor, why don't you act in as her father?"

He jumped when he heard his name. He was just reading while the girls talked. "Me?"

"Yes, you, Spaceman!"

"Well, I guess you're old enough to be my father..."

"Ancestor," Donna corrected her.

His response was a reluctant, "Alright." But he wouldn't admit why he didn't want to do it.

* * *

"You alright, Spaceman?" Donna asked him. They had just left the church. It was another hour until the dinner party.

"Oh, yeah... I'm fine."

But she saw through that lie. "You loved her, didn't you?"

"Well, she was brilliant... I guess you're right, to a certain extent..."

Donna grabbed his arm. "I know. Come one, we'll go together."

He laughed inwardly. Oh, Donna.

"Don't expect anything more, though. Besides, I learned with the Oods what I want in a man. And you're not it."

Well, he was pretty obedient, so what else was... Oh. "You like... Tentacles?" No wonder she couldn't get a man!

"Oh, so it's okay with you and Rose, but when I want a relationship with an alien, it's not?"

He didn't say a word as they kept walking. Soon, they came across a line of about nine police boxes. And he knew what that meant when he heard a scream from the first, "Come on, Susan! We're going to be late!"

"Donna?" He smiled.

"Yeah?"

"Everyone's going to be in for a surprise."

* * *

_(A week later) _

The Doctor and Donna made a stop in 1987. He needed to fix something. "Excuse me, sir," someone called when he was outside.

"Yes?" He turned around to see the man.

He had dark blond hair and an infant in his arms that already had light blond hair. "Are you a doctor?"

He nodded. The man held out an envelope.

"This is from... A friend."

"Thank you..." The Doctor took it from him, and the man walked away. He opened the envelope quickly and took out the folded up piece of paper inside. And from there, he began to read.

_Doctor, _

_I can't thank you enough for coming last year. I know how many times I went off one you, but now I regret that. And I think you know that. But there's something more important I'm writing about. _

_I don't think that'll be the last time we'll see each other. You need to come back some time, Doctor. If you're in 1987, like I think you are, you may have heard about our twins. You think I mean John and I when I say "our", don't you? No, I don't. I mean it as in you and I. I met your fifth regeneration a day or two after you came. John was out performing, as you remember, and Peri, I think, was out seeing him. No one knows, Doctor. You're the only one. And I know you can keep that a secret. _

_Oh, and thank Donna for telling me about a man named Pete Tyler. Supposedly, he'll be gone soon, and that's a shame. But Donna claims you'll know that daughter of his. _

_Well, I guess this is it. Just one last thing, something that you've told me all along, but you need it said to you: brave heart, Doctor. _

He folded it back up, trying to stay composed.

Tegan.

Supposedly his children.

Pete.

Rose.

How was he supposed to feel? He turned around, only to see Donna standing, watching him. "Oh... Hello..."

"Guess you and your friends are never that far apart."

He put his arm around her. "No, we aren't. Come on, Donna. Allons-y."


End file.
